How to master Regular Expressions? [closed]

Answer 1

Here are some good resources:

http://regexlib.com/

http://www.regular-expressions.info/

And my new favorite, https://regex101.com/. Absolutely brilliant! Really, they're making things too easy these days.

Answer 2

Start using RegExBuddy!

Answer 3

Make sure you understand the basics. You can get this from a variety of sources (depending on your choice of regex flavor).

You can play around with them on something like this.

Answer 4

Tutorials:

http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html - One great tutorial on regex

Online Testers:

http://osteele.com/tools/reanimator/ - it animates your regex as an automaton, cool!

http://regexpal.com/ - really cool and easy to use

http://www.fileformat.info/tool/regex.htm

Tools:

http://www.radsoftware.com.au/regexdesigner/

.Net specific:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/az24scfc(VS.71).aspx

Java specific:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/essential/regex/

GeneXus X specific:

http://wiki.gxtechnical.com/commwiki/servlet/hwikibypageid?4606

Answer 5

Expresso is a pretty good, free RegEx utility:

http://www.ultrapico.com/Expresso.htm

And a Regular Expressions Cheat Sheet which comes in handy:

http://www.addedbytes.com/cheat-sheets/regular-expressions-cheat-sheet/

Answer 6

I found that learning about how they were implemented under the hood really helped. Actually it was studying languages and compiler design that I first encountered regexes. Knowing where they come from, and how they relate to grammars, DFAs, lexers, etc I think is a real help. It especially helps with debugging, since you can get into the mind of the regex so to speak.